We were in the TARDIS, hurtling back to Earth to see if there was any signs of Rose Tyler here and I felt stinging pain in my abdomen again. Not wanting to worry the Doctor further, I kept it to myself, but Donna saw me wincing and took my hand, squeezing it and looking worried.
"It's because of the mirrors, isn't it? When you were helping me back in that other Universe, that's why the baby hurts."
I nodded silently, knowing the possible outcome of this, but not regretting it. I had sacrificed so much for the sake of the war, sacrifice meant practically nothing to me anymore. Donna looked sad, but didn't say anything else as the Doctor grabbed my free hand and pulled us out of the doors into a Leadworth street not far from Amy's.
"It's fine. Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong, all fine. Excuse me. What day is it?" He shouted to a nearby milkman who was looking at me with shock in his eyes. I looked down at my protruding stomach and remembered that he had only seen me a few weeks ago when I didn't have a baby bump.
"Saturday. Uh, Alice, does Amelia know about that?"
"No, but I'll go see her in a minute. Saturday, she'll be in bed still, recovering from whatever party she was at last night."
"So, we just met Rose Tyler?" Donna asked, talking to the Doctor as I started thinking of ways that I could possibly explain to Amy about how I've suddenly developed a baby bump the size of pluto in the space of the 3 weeks, or 5 months, since my party.
"Yeah."
"But she's locked away in a parallel world."
"Exactly. If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything. But how? Seraphina, did you see anything coming? Anything at all, other than the Big Bad Wolf returns? What does the Darkness mean?"
"I knew the whole time she was trying to get back, but everything had to happen like this because of time. I don't know much, but that is what I can say." I sighed, not seeing the point in lying to him.
"You knew that Rose was coming back? How long?"
"A while."
"How long is a while, Writer?"
"Since when do you use that name for me? And a while is since Kremar. But if I had told you, it would have drastically changed the outcome of what is to happen. And that can't happen. I'm going to see Amy and Rory, come see me when you've decided to use my name instead of my title." And then I started to walk to the house I had re-grown up in.
I heard the door to the TARDIS slam shut and fought back tears as another wave of pain hit me. Then everything went dark and the planet shook. "That had to fucking happen now didn't it!" I cried, looking back to where my home had been parked and seeing the space empty.
"Alice? Alice, what are you doing here?" I heard a female voice ask behind me and I turned to see Mels walking towards me. She seemed unfazed by the fact that it was suddenly night time after it had only been 8 in the morning. Oh, and the 26 planets that were in the sky.
"MELS! Oh, ow, um, help me to mine?" I cringed, rubbing my stomach in a circular motion, tracing her name over and over.
"Sure. Um, put on a little weight, have we?" She laughed, putting my arm around her shoulder and helping me down the road.
"Shut up, Melody. Can you get Rory as well, he should be in the library, I can make it from here." I said, seeing something that was coming up and wanting my family safe as I went off to fight in the war.
"Sure thing. Oh, and Amy may freak a little. See you in a minute." And she ran off to the library where I could see Rory sitting at a computer doing yet more revision for his doctors exam.
I waddled as fast as I could to Amy's, but Rory and Mels still managed to catch up with me before I made it, Rory slightly more freaked about the planets in the sky, so much so he didn't even notice my bump. "Alice, what the hell is going on? Seriously, the whole planet shook and suddenly it was night time and there were loads of planets!"
"Rory, calm down! Right, AMY LET US IN!" I yelled under her window, crouching down to pick up a rock and tossing it up. A moment later, a grumpy Amy appeared at the door, her eyes not fully open yet.
"Alice, I swear to god, if this is some random visit to make sure that I'm keeping out of trouble..." She said, and then her eyes opened and saw my stomach. "What the hell have you got under your top?!"
"Amelia, I'm pregnant, get over that and let us in. Is my basement room still set up?"
"No, I will not get over it! How long have you been pregnant?"
Mels just pushed past her and opened the door to the basement. "I made sure she didn't touch it. Amy, shut up and get inside. Rory, you're with me, we need to get food, water and other necessities."
Amy made a look of protest but did as she was told. I nodded thanks to the girl who was looking at me sadly. "Thanks, hun. Be quick, there's a reason I want us altogether."
The Doctor:
Alice was trapped on Earth, god knows what about to come down and attack the AWOL planet, and here I was, talking to the Shadow Proclamation.
"Time Lords are the stuff of legend. They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist, let alone you having a partner who is pregnant with a third." The Architect said, pacing back and forward, reminding me of the High Priestess of the Academy who often did the same.
"Yeah, more to the point, Seraphina is on a missing planet."
"Then you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor. Twenty four worlds have been taken from the sky."
"How many?. Which ones? Show me." I went down to the floor where the woman was by a terminal, tapping away at some buttons.
"Locations range far and wide, but all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace."
"Callufrax Minorr. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept. Clom. Clom's gone? Who'd want Clom?" I asked, thinking of the species that inhabited the twin planet of Raxicorricofallipatorius. That was an interesting encounter.
"All different sizes. Some populated, some not. But all unconnected."
Donna spoke up from the stairs then, a good idea popping into her head. "What about Pyrovillia?"
"Who is the female?"
"Donna. I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you. Way back, when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing." Score one for Donna!
"Pyrovilia is cold case. Not relevant." A nearby Judoon growled as though she were a child needing a lesson on the history of planets.
"How do you mean, cold case?" She asked, not understanding. Well, neither did I really.
"The planet Pyrovilia cannot be part of this. It disappeared over 2000 years ago."
"Yes, yes, hang on. But there's the Adipose breeding planet, too. Miss Foster said that was lost, but that must've been a long time ago."
It all started to connect in my brain until I had the eureka moment. "That's it! Donna, brilliant. Planets are being taken out of time as well as space. Let's put this into 3-D." I put the display on the screen in projection. "Now, if we add Pyrovillia and Adipose Three. Something missing. Where else, where else, where else? Where else lost, lost, lost, lost. Oh! The Lost Moon of Poosh."
With the last few elements in the equation, they rearranged themselves into their best order. "What did you do?" The Architect asked, not seeing what was happening.
"Nothing" I answered truthfully." The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern. Oh, look at that. Twenty seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous."
"Oi, don't get all spaceman, what does it mean?" Donna demanded, looking at the planets and then back at me.
"All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine. It's like a powerhouse. What for?"
"Who could design such a thing?" the Architect wondered.
I thought back and shuddered at the memory. "Someone tried to move the Earth before, long time ago. Can't be."
After a while of talking to the Architect, I saw Donna talking to the protege of the white woman and walk away, leaving her looking confused. "Donna, come on, think. Earth. There must've been some sort of warning. Was anything happening back in your day, like electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"
"Well, how should I know? Er, no. I don't think so, no" She shook her head, her straight ginger hair swishing softly against her brown leather jacket.
"Oh, ok. Never mind." I sighed and then turned to go back to the drawing board.
" Although, there were the bees disappearing." It had been something I'd heard her mention a few times before though it had never hit me until now.
"The bee's disappearing. The bee's, disappearing. The bee's disappearing!" I shouted, running back over to the computer.
"How is that significant?" The Architect asked.
" On Earth we had these insects. Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals." Donna tried to explain, but as usual, the human race got it 100% wrong.
"Or, they were going back home." I corrected.
Donna scoffed. "Back home where?"
"The planet Melissa Mejoria."
"Are you saying bee's are aliens?"
"Don't be daft." I laughed, then went serious again. "Not all of them. But if the migrant bees felt something coming, some sort of danger, and escaped? Tandocca."
"The Tandocca scale!"
"Tandocca Scale is the series of wavelengths used as a carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small. No wonder we didn't see it. It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara, but look, there it is. The Tandocca trail. The transmat that moved the planets was using the same wavelength, we can follow the path."
"And find the Earth and Alice?. Well, stop talking and do it."
"I am. I'm not losing anymore of my family." I got straight to work, putting all my effort into finding my lost girlfriend and unborn baby. I eventually found it, but not as fast as I wanted. "We're a bit late. The signal's scattered, but it's a start." I stuck my head out of the TARDIS door at Donna and the Architect. "I've got a blip. It's just a blip, But it's definitely a blip."
"Then according to the Strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology"
This was news to me. "Oh, really? What for?"
"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor, right across the universe, and you will lead us into battle."
"Right. Yes. Course I will. I'll just go and get you the key." There was no way that I was turning the TARDIS back into a weapon of war. Donna followed me inside and I snapped my fingers to close the door. I could hear the Architect yelling at us to stop, that she ordered us. Ha! Fat chance of getting either of us to do as she said.
Alice:
The majority of the time we spent arguing in my little sound proof room. No one could get in or out without my permission, so we were completely safe from the Daleks upstairs, though we could still hear from the videos on YouTube and on Facebook that everything was going horribly wrong.
But Amy was still not understanding that I wasn't human.
"But I have known you all of my life, we raised each other! If you're some alien, like the Raggedy Doctor, then I would have realised by now Alice, we all would have!"
"I'm an alien in a humans body, well, I'm in my own body, but it became human to escape a war, using a machine that automatically finds me a host family to hide in." I explained, rubbing the sore parts of my stomach.
"That's it, Rory, do you have her meds, the ones that she should be taking instead of whatever Dave's put her on."
"Don't you dare, Rory!" I warned him as he fumbled with a bag and pulled out a syringe filled with the medicine that I created to suppress my 'hallucinations' before I realised that they were visions.
"Alice, it's for your own good!" Amy shouted, her light green eyes scared both for herself and for what she thought was going on in my mind.
"No, it's not! If you inject me with that, then it'll kill my baby and if you do that I will be dangerous, but not in the way you think."
Rory faltered, his natural instinct with children helping him see sense with the medicine. "Amy, she's right. We don't know what this could do to the fetus and I have nothing with me to help her if she miscarries."
She made to protest, but got drowned out by the computer I had set up with a complete untraceable signal burst into life, a very familiar voice calling out to me. "This is a call for help, I am calling for the Writer, AKA High Priestess Seraphina Dark of Gallifrey."
"Uh, yeah, I'm here. Seriously, Harriet Jones? Well, at least it wasn't Tony Blaire." I frowned. "Sorry, wrong universe. Go on."
"Right, that's two of you, getting closer. The Doctor isn't with you."
"Well observed. We had an argument, just before the Earth was taken. He and Donna were inside the TARDIS, I was outside. Look, not being rude, but how do you know who I am and hack into my secure server. Not even the Daleks managed it."
"I have privileged information from the UNIT archives, especially to the 70's files. You're mentioned frequently."
"Ah, that makes sense. Anyway, carry on collecting your army, which is what it'll become by the end of the night/day. Who was the first you'd gotten?"
"Who was the first person you collected, that's the right grammar, ." Sarah Jane Smith corrected me, the smile in her voice evident even before the picture showed up beside Harriet.
"Janie, of course the Londoner would correct my grammar. Who's next?"
Instead of answering, Harriet just kept calling out to people. "This message is of the utmost importance. We haven't much time. Can anyone hear me?"
I heard Gwen Coopers voice faintly and then Jacks grumblings. "OI! Captain Jack Harkness, or maybe I should use your real name, shame on you! Get your ass over to the monitor and help your mother in law save the Goddamn Universe!"
"Alice, don't you dare!" He came into sight, looking relieved. Janie's signal fell a little, and we both worked to get her back.
"Sarah Jane Smith, 13 Bannerman Road, are you there?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. That, that's me."
"Whoo, Janie! Right, who else?" I tapped on my key board and we all appeared on the screen, Amy, Rory, Mels and I in the centre for some reason.
"The last contact seems to be having trouble."
"I'll just boost the signal. And there should be two more, not just Martha." I hacked into whatever system that Harri was using and connected to Martha's PC, connecting Rose at the same time but not getting an image or sound. Maybe she didn't have a webcam wherever she was.
"Hello?" I heard MJ say, confused.
"Ha, ha! Martha Jones!" Jack cheered, Ianto and Gwen visible over his shoulder. I peered for River but guessed she was off planet.
"Hey, Blondie, I know you can hear us, but guess you have no camera. I'm unblocking your number from my phone, try and text me so I know you're here!" I said, singling my voice out to just her connection, then re-attaching myself fully, missing part of the conversation. A second later, I had a text saying I'm here, thanks for not leaving me out.
You're welcome, just try to find a way to get to us. You are as much a part of this as we are.
"Alice, not the best time to faze out into one of your freaky future vision things, we need you." Jack called, making me flinch and a sharp pain went through my stomach, but I ignored it, knowing that there were more important things to do.
"Sorry, sorry. Right, we all met at my birthday party last month so we need no introductions. Martha, what happened with Project Indigo?"
Her eyes widened as Jack laughed. "Really? Is there anyone who doesn't know the secrets of UNIT? Well, Dragon, I suppose the infamous hacker would. It worked, it got me out safe. But I guess Project Indigo was more clever than we thought. One second I was in Manhattan, next second. Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind, because I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be"
"It took you home." Amy smiled behind me, the simple happy thought of being home at a time like this breaking through her fear for everyone.
" You came home. At the end of the world, you came back to me." Francine Jones said, standing behind her daughter, a mug of tea in one hand.
"And then my laptop came on all of a sudden."
"That was us, well, more Harry, she got me in the first place."
"Sarah Jane, nice to see you again. I've been following your work, nice job with the Slitheen." Jack nodded, obviously impressed.
"Yeah, well, I've been staying away from you lot. Too many guns" She nodded towards Luke and I smiled, thinking she made a brilliant mum.
"All the same, might I say looking good, ma'am? "
"Really? Ooo." Janie said, surprised. Everyone else groaned.
"Jack, not now, bigger fish. Harriet?"
"This ladies and gentlemen, is the Subwave Network. A sentient piece of software programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor." She explained, and I could see that she was just sat in her living room.
"Plus my genius hacking skills that got IP addresses. I'm pretty brilliant myself. But what if the Daleks can hear us?"
"No, that's the beauty of the Subwave. It's undetectable."
Sarah Jane frowned. "And you invented it?"
"I developed it. It was created by the Mister Copper Foundation."
"Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon. Martha, back there at UNIT, what, what did they give you? What was that key thing?" Jack asked, not thinking of the bigger picture. Daleks were nearly indestructible.
"The Osterhagen key."
I let out a growl that made Mels and Rory step away from me and even Amy looked a little bit scared at the noise. "What High Priestess Dark is trying to say, Doctor Jones, is that the Key is not to be used under any circumstances."
"But what is an Osterhagen Key?" Jack asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Forget about the key and that's an order!" I shouted, then closed my eyes and counted to 10. "Sorry, Jack. All we need is the Doctor and Rose. And Donna, she's crucial."
"But I've been trying to get through to the Doctor and Donna, they've got my phone on the TARDIS. I can't get through." Martha said, holding up her own phone to show.
"That's why we need the Subwave. To bring us all together. Combine forces. The Doctor and Writers secret army." Harriet agreed, her lined face so much more confident than when she had first come to power 3 years before.
"Harriet, Armies turn around and run when they see me, let alone when I'm part of the same one." I muttered, remembering when the Sontarans saw me survive a suicide mission and fled, scared of my fearlessness.
"Wait a minute. We boost the signal. That's it. We transmit that telephone number through Torchwood itself, using all the power of the Rift." Jack theorised, getting Luke's super brain working as well.
"And we've got Mr Smith, he can link up with every telephone exchange on Earth. He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time. Billions of phones, calling out all at once."
"Brilliant. Who's the kid?"
"That's my son!" Janie cried indignantly, putting her arm around the brilliant boy.
"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Hello. Ianto Jones. Er, if we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible. I mean, to the Daleks." Ianto reminded her. Harriet flinched slightly, but then corrected herself, scared, but thinking of the bigger picture.
"Yes, and they'll trace it back to me. But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth."
"Ma'am" Jack saluted, and I considered doing it, but like I'd said, armies tended to run from me.
"Thank you Captain. But there are people out there dying on the streets. Now, enough of words. Let's begin."
We all started typing, or running about with cables, preparing for the transmission to my best friend and boyfriend, hoping that we could reach them and get them here. All except me and my family, who had no part in this procedure. "Anything we can do from here?"
"No, sorry, mother." Jack smiled to the screen as he passed it with the largest cable. "Rift power activated. But you can try to see the outcomes of what we're about to do."
"I saw this a long time ago, Jack, there's no alternative to what I saw."
"All terminals co-ordinated." Gwen shouted.
"National Grid online. We're giving you everything we've got." Ianto added, his normally quiet voice loud and clear.
"Connecting you to Mr Smith."
"All telephone networks combined."
"Sending you the number, now." Martha said, the number flashing across the screen and then disappearing again.
"Opening Subwave network to maximum."
"Mr Smith, call that number." Sarah Jane prayed, hugging her son tight.
"Calling, the Doctor."
"And, Sending!" Jack shouted, opening the Rift and sending it through. I closed my eyes as I felt Time open up again, visions rolling over my brain. I felt tears toll down my cheeks, but when I wiped them away, I saw the red of blood.
"Crap." I muttered, grabbing a tissue before anyone saw. Mels did, but said nothing.
"Writer, are you fine to do your part in this?" Harry asked, her voice softening.
"You mean get me and Jack to the area they land so we can save the Universe again? Yeah, I think that I can do that." I rolled my eyes and focused on the Doctor, attaching myself to the wave of phone calls. "Doctor, Doctor, answer your bloody phone for once!"
The Doctor:
"Doctor! Phone!" Donna yelled, pointing to the device just as I got a angry voice in my head telling me to answer it.
I grabbed at it, desperate to hear her. "Seraphina? Martha, is that you?" I paused, hearing a bleep every second. "It's a signal."
"Can we follow it?"
"Try and stops me." I growled, getting out my stethoscope and listening, trying to get a pinpoint answer.
After a moment, I realised why we couldn't follow them. "We're travelling through time. One second in the future. The phone call's pulling us through"
We forced our way through the gap and entered a galaxy filled with 27 planets, one being the beautiful blue and green planet with my girlfriend on it. My screen burst into life and I saw the Torchwood Trio, Sarah Jane and Luke, Martha and Francine, and last but not least, the Leadworth Bunch, Alice, Amy, Rory and Mels.
"Where the hell have you been?" Jack demanded, both angry and relieved. "Doctor, it's the Daleks."
"Look at you all, you clever people." I smiled, but stopped when I saw the one person I had been fighting for the most. "Alice? Seraphina, what happened to your eyes?" I asked, seeing that they were fully red, something I hadn't seen happen for a long time.
"So much death. I can't stop it, it won't let me stop it!" She cried, blood tears falling. Rory stepped forwards and started examining them, nurse mode kicking in.
"Rory, she and that baby need to be safe. I won't be happy if either are harmed." I warned, then got back to the matter at hand.
"It's like an outer space Facebook." Donna commented, making Luke and Sarah Jane smile, and the Torchwood Trio groan.
"Everyone except Rose."
"Doctor, she's out there, she just can't push through. Right Blondie?" Alice sighed, trying to sound normal but failing as blood ran into her mouth faster than Rory could mop it up. Then the scanner went blank. "Oh"
"We've lost them." Donna cried, panicking slightly.
"No, no, no, no, no. There's another signal coming through. There's someone else out there. Hello? Can you hear me? Rose?"
"Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged." A voice said, making my heart stop in dead, and I knew that Sera and Sarah had probably frozen as well, Sarah Jane more so. "Welcome to my new empire." Davros grinned, coming into view, making me want to throw something down the screen at him.
"Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race."
"Doctor?" Donna asked.
"Have you nothing to say?"
"Doctor, it's all right. We're, we're in the Tardis. We're safe"
"But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you." I choked out, thinking of the War that separated me from my family and friends.
"But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Ca'an himself."
"I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times"
" Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself."
"But that's impossible. The entire War is timelocked" I cried, the memory of destroying Gallifrey still so fresh in my mind, so raw and angry.
" And yet he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"
"After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you. Bye!" I kicked a lever into place and disconnected myself from the conversation, hopefully not destroying everyone elses to each other, but enough to get us to Earth. I was going to stop Davros, destroy the Daleks and still have time to snog Seraphina Dark within an inch of her life.
Alice:
"Jack, you come and get me right now! You've got the base codes so you can pick me up and then go to the Doctor."
"Mother, you are nearly at term, not happening. You are in the safest place in the universe right now, you are not risking yourself or that baby." he replied, running around Torchwood like a headless chicken.
"Jack, do it or I tell everyone your real name."
"I hate you! Fine, be ready to leave, like, now." He zapped out of the picture and appeared behind Amy and I, in front of Rory and Mels.
"Hello again, handsome." She grinned.
"Still married. Let's go." He took my hand and we reappeared in a deserted street, cars everywhere. Jack straight away shot at a Dalek, but not before it had shot the Doctor.
"NO!" I screamed, running towards him, real tears in my eyes now. Rose got to him first, but moved aside to let me through. "Doctor, don't you dare. Don't you dare change in front of me again! You promised me I would never have to watch you in so much pain again!"
"Rose." He muttered, seeing her in the background.
"Hi" She smiled, but she too had tears in her eyes.
"Long time no see." He laughed shakily.
"Yeah. Been busy, you know. Don't die. Oh, my God. Don't die. Oh my god, don't die." She begged, "I came back for you, I know that you don't want me in the same way, but I still came back to see you happy."
"Get him into the TARDIS, quick, move!" Jack ordered. Him and Rose supported him as I opened the doors, Donna following me in.
"What, what do we do?. There must be some medicine or something" She cried, panicking like hell.
"Just step back. Rose and Seraphina do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next. You more than anyone, Mother."
"Enough with the Mother! Don't you dare Doctor, you just can't!" I sobbed, clutching at my stomach, feeling it twinge and burn again.
"What do you mean, what happens next?" Don cried, still not understanding.
The Doctor held up his hand and saw the tell tale gold forming around it. "It's starting."
"Here we go. Good luck, Doctor." Jack nodded, holding me back carefully.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?"
"When he's dying, his er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes. But you can't! What about Alice and the baby!"
"I'm sorry, it's too late. I'm regenerating."